7 May - Batumi to Mestia (Georgia)

My hotel room (new Batumi)

The view from my hotel room (old Batumi)

It was a very dull wet day when we left the hotel for Mestia at 9.30am. The road was extremely bumpy later in the afternoon with rocks on the road and some parts washed away with the rain. The scenery was steep wooded valleys, plenty of waterfalls but the dam below the road was very low in water. The further we travelled more snow was to be seen and the closer we came to the snow. Going through the towns on the way the style of houses had changed as they were now mainly of two stories and some had very elaborate stairs up to the second storey. I was told by our interpreter that the family lived in the lower level and the upper level was used by guests. There was generally no internal staircase so the two groups could be separated.

Showing the elaborate staircases

A farming community

Low water level

Lunch

Washed away

They should have had more weetabix for breakfast

Getting closer to the mountains

Nino Ratiani’s Guesthouse  (I love that name) was to be our next stop in Mestia at 1500 metres elevation. The village is the centre for snow sports and climbing now but was also the the centre for Georgian culture and has a number of medieval churches and forts. Dinner, not long after we arrived, had us sat with a wood fire in the room.

The guest house

Dinner